Circuits Without Clocks: What Makes Them Tick?

Abstract

In the past ten years interest in asynchronous circuit
design has increased dramatically, both in academia and industry.
Among the reasons for this sudden revival are the potential benefits of
speed, low power consumption, modularity of design, and reduced
electro-magnetic radiation. In this talk I will give a brief
historical overview of asynchronous circuits, illustrate their
potential by means of recent chip designs, and discuss some of the
challenges yet to overcome. As examples I will use various circuits
designed at Sun Microsystems Laboratories.